How NormSoft started their other graphic design journey

Summary

We are the creators of Pocket Tunes, the premiere audio player for mobile phones and PDA's. We are about to have a major release and part of the appeal of our program is that the user can change the look of the player by changing the skin. So WE WANT MORE SKINS!!

Make sure you read the Brief for specific information.

Company name

What inspires you and how do you envision the design for your business?

The skin must be functional. Ease of use is a major focus for us. But we also want skins that are original and interesting. Something that looks current or maybe even a little ahead of the curve. We're talking about an audio player so it has to look cool.

In addition to the cash award, the winner will have the opportunity to place information about their brand and design studio on both our website where we will be featuring the winning entry and in our newsletter which goes out to over a half million people.

Primarily we are looking for the artwork for the skins. We can do the actual xml coding for it to work, all you need to do is supply us with the PSD files that have all the slices for every state any icon on screen might be in. That means that if you have say a Pause button that changes when it is pressed, we need the look before it is pressed, while it is pressed (if applicable), and after it is pressed.

For an example of what we are looking for, please download this file . NOTE that this is only an example of what we would like to see within the PSD. It is not a resolution we are requesting for this contest. See below for that.

For examples of previous skins, go to our skin site.

The skins are used on small Mobile
devices like Palm Treos. That means there are a variety of input methods. You
can use your finger, a stylus, the keypad or move around with a navigation
ring. So bear in mind when you create the skin that on many devices, the screen
is directly accessible.

You can also download the current Skin Designer's Guide. It is more to do with the XML programming which you do not need to do. But you may find it helpful in understanding the capabilities of the the Pocket Tunes skin system.

We will need a PSD file from the winner.

NOTE: The top 10 entries will get a free copy of Pocket Tunes Deluxe for their personal use.

And if we really like your work we may commission the winner for more skins in the future.

Wants

- “Pocket Tunes” must appear somewhere on the skin
and be legible. Preference is for upper left corner. Can even add a drop down menu indicator since tapping on the logo will cause the Pocket Tunes menu to open.

- 3 screen orientations 240x240, 320x240, 240x320

- MUST be in PSD format suitable for use with
PhotoShop. One PSD for each resolution.

- Include all states of any item that has multiple
states

- You can have multiple views that are accessible via tabs or buttons to switch views, BUT watch that you don't overdo it. Generally a maximum of 3 views is good for ease of use. For an example, see the Sleek Enhanced skin, here.

- Must have an album art area

- Should have a playlist area though it does not have to be in every view if you have multiple views on the skin

- playlist only allows for Title and Duration of each track so that is all that is needed to display in the playlist.

- For current track display: Title, Artist, Album (if album art is prominent, this can be left off)

- Minimally you need to have buttons of some sort for: Play/Pause - can be one button for both, Previous track, Next track, Choose Songs - to choose new tracks, Volume Indicator

- Optionally: Shuffle, Repeat indicators

- display current song position and duration. Can be in the form of a slider, progress bar, numbers or combination.

- functional

- original

- interesting

Don't want

- crowded screen where the icons are too small to comfortably
access
- boring